The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1945 by the ancient music master Karl Mutzinger in Stuttgart, the hometown of Mercedes-Benz. Over the past 80 years, it has been world-renowned for its exquisite musical interpretation in the international music scene. Mutzinger, who served as the chief conductor for more than 40 years, assembled a group of elite musicians at the beginning of the orchestra to realize his new interpretation of Bach and Viennese classical works. Danny Russell Davies, who served as the orchestra's chief conductor from 1995 to 2006, focused on enhancing the richness of the orchestra's repertoire and made a new positioning for the orchestra's artistic focus. Under his guidance, the orchestra's repertoire spans the 20th and 21st centuries, including some specially commissioned works, especially the works of composers Philip Glass and Gia Cancheli, which have outstanding performances both in the concert hall and in the recording studio. During Davis' tenure as chief conductor, the orchestra held a series of concerts of all 107 symphonies of Haydn. The series lasted for 11 years and was successfully completed in 2009. The live recordings were released by Sony BMG. In 2012, the orchestra's current laureate conductor, Dainis, conducted the orchestra to record works by Bartók and Lutosławski, which were released by ECM Records. Since 2006, Michael Hofstetter, an internationally renowned expert in performance practice, has served as the orchestra's chief conductor. During his tenure as chief conductor, the orchestra's rich modern repertoire has been further expanded. While performing the works, the orchestra continues their long and outstanding recording tradition. Since recording for Decca in Geneva in 1949, the orchestra has released hundreds of records.

From the 2013/2014 season, the young conductor Matthias Freimer began to serve as the orchestra's chief conductor, and in 2019 he was taken over by the world-renowned violinist and conductor Thomas Zechtmayer.

The orchestra holds a large number of concerts every year, with footprints all over the world, and frequently appears in major art festivals, all of which demonstrate the orchestra's excellent performance level and outstanding reputation. Masters such as Jacques Thibaud, Menuhin, and Wilhelm Kempff all performed with the orchestra in the 1950s. Later, masters including Julius Kachin and Arthur Grumiaux, Rostropovich, Milstein and Kogan also had good cooperation with the orchestra. After Mutzinger retired, the orchestra also frequently invited many soloists to cooperate and served as the director. In recent years, well-known artists who have performed with the orchestra include Julia Fischer, Fazl Say, Daniel Mueller-Schutte, Xavier de Maistre, Emanuel Pahud, etc.; guest conductors include Christoph Poppen, Pablo González, Ariel Zuckerman, Wolfram Christ, Günter Pichler, etc.

The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra is known as the oldest chamber orchestra in Europe and the most famous in Germany. The orchestra's tour does not have a conductor, and the performances rely entirely on the tacit understanding accumulated by the orchestra members over many years of cooperation. Their playing skills are perfect, and they have a thorough understanding of the spirit of Baroque music. Their speed control and timbre portrayal are based on respecting and reproducing the original score. The paragraphs are connected naturally and closely, and different repertoires reflect diverse emotions, enriching the expressiveness of the music.